French forensic mental health system during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Main Authors: Thomas Fovet, Florence Thibaut, Pierre Thomas, Camille Lancelevée
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2020-11-01
• Series: Forensic Science International: Mind and Law
• Subjects: Forensic; Psychiatry; France; COVID-19; Pandemic; Prison
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666353820300278

Many facilities involved in caring people diagnosed with mental health disorders who committed crime had to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic in France. Particularly, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on incarcerated people was the subject of many concerns. The COVID-19 pandemic also posed major challenges in secure psychiatric hospitals and for psychiatrist experts. Rapid changes in working practices occurred. Finally, the lockdown period was associated with an increase in domestic violence, especially gender-based violence and child abuse and neglect. Overall, the COVID-19 pandemic emphasized the well-known limitations of the French mental health system to manage people diagnosed with mental health disorders who committed crime and the urgent need for better recognition of forensic psychiatry in France.